Blundell: Vegas was a recipe for disaster

18 October 2011 – Mark Blundell is sure that the IndyCar Series should not have been racing at the Las Vegas Motor Speedway, with Dan Wheldon having been killed in a 15-car pile-up on Sunday. In the eyes of the former driver, the circuit was not appropriate for the amount of cars competing and their maximum speed capabilities.

“I do think, having driven these cars myself for five years and having won races on ovals…when you’re only a couple of inches away from each other, side-by-side doing 220 miles an hour, when things go wrong they go wrong in a big way,” Blundell, whose 2mb management company looks after IndyCar driver Mike Conway, explained to BBC Radio 4’s Today programme.

“It was inevitable in many ways, it was a recipe for disaster when you look at what was going on. We were in Las Vegas for the last race; I do think the dice were being rolled on the track instead of just being rolled on the gambling tables.

“I don’t think anything is going to happen overnight; they are going to have to take their time and understand what has been going on with the way the cars are. The thing which is quite difficult for the series now is that they’ve got a whole new generation of cars coming out for next season.

“But I think the biggest thing is that these kinds of cars shouldn’t be running on these kinds of circuits; you saw 15 cars – 40 percent of the grid – wiped out and we’ve had a fatality…and that’s not acceptable.”

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